Not the Best Idea
by AvengersIsMyLife
Summary: High school AU. When two schools from completely different parts of the city are forced together, no one knows what will happen. But, what will happen when the Avengers, who don't exactly like each other, are forced to be together? Rated T for slight language and because I'm paranoid.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, so this is my first attempt at writing a fanfiction so I would love some feedback, but nothing too harsh okay? I'll have to admit its a little long, but hopefully its not to horrible... Enjoy!**

Chapter 1

Clint leaned against the street lamp, a backpack slung over his shoulder. The other kids were gathered in a cluster ten feet away, texting and buzzing happily. He preferred to keep his distance.

When the bus finally came, he took up the rear and followed the group on. It seemed that he wasn't the last stop, so there were plenty of open seats. He slipped into the first seat he saw and leaned back with a sigh.

This year was going to be a lot different. Due to budget cuts in the school district, they had to cut his school off and transfer all the students into the private school down the block. It probably wouldn't be considered private anymore, though it was a hundred times nicer than the other school. Clint wouldn't actually mind going to that school except for the fact that the students from the two schools were completely different. The private school kids were the intelligent rich kids, whose parents didn't care about what they did as long as they weren't in jail for too long. While the student's from Clint's school were either from really poor families and couldn't afford to go to a better school or they were in some gang, getting into fights everyday.

In short, whoever decided it was a good idea to combine these two schools was either extremely drunk or didn't know how to count higher than one.

When Clint had figured this all out the night before, he also figured out that he was one of the exceptional few who didn't fall into either category which allowed him a small amount of satisfaction.

His thoughts were suddenly disrupted by a voice that rang sweetly in his ears like honey, "Clint, scoot."

He slid over to the window as the girl sat down. He watched as she dropped her backpack under the seat. Her red curls fell down the sides of her flawless face onto her perfectly proportioned body.

When she finished and looked up at him he directed his gaze towards the seat in front of him instead. She watched him a few seconds more then her red lips formed into the smallest of smiles.

Clint followed her off the bus and took in the scene before him. He could see that most of year's problems had already started and that was just in the parking lot. He dreaded what might be inside.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" She spun around to face him, holding out a silver package, "Poptart?"

He gladly took it, and ripped open the shiny wrapper, "Real food!"

"What kind of diet is Jan trying out now?" she asked, eyes sparkling with amusement.

Clint pulled his phone out of his pocket, checking the time, "Its called paleo or something weird like that. Its only food you could find if you were a cave man."

"Sounds harsh."

"Believe me, it is, but at least this one has meat in it," he glanced around, then added, "the bus was pretty early, wanna sit down somewhere?"

"Sure, but since when have you cared about the bus being early, or better yet, when school starts?" She knew him too well.

They started walking towards one of the trees nearest the school's front doors. This school had much nicer flowerbeds then the ones he was used to. There was actually living plants in the ones here.

Clint gulped down a large chunk of breakfast pastry, "It's a new school right? I figured I should at least try a little harder this year."

He slid down the trunk of the tree, Natasha right next to him. He noticed and tried to ignore the slight touch of her shoulder against his and continued eating.

Natasha looked at him, "That's the only reason? Clint, I know you would never in a million years use that as a reason to do better in school."

"You're no fun to be around Nat, I can never get a lie past you," He smiled when she rolled her eyes at him. "Jan said if I was on time to all my classes for the first quarter and kept my grade above a C then she'd get me a new compound bow. I've outgrown my old one anyway."

"Clint Barton, being on time to every class?" She let out a small chuckle, "If that ever happens I'll be sure the world is ending."

"Thanks for being so supportive," he mumbled, trying to sound heartbroken.

They sat for a moment in silence. Both of the scanned the other students that walked by. It was something both of them had in common. They were observers. Silent observers to be precise.

That's probably one of the reasons why most people seemed to be afraid of them.

Clint smiled, he didn't mind being scary. At least nobody bugged him if he gave someone a glare.

There were plenty of students Clint didn't recognize. He watched the desperate attempts of some freshman girls trying to get the attention of two muscular looking guys who were hanging out by the stairs. One of the boys, one with dark brown hair and who was slightly smaller than his companion, seemed to acknowledge them with a smile. His blond haired friend on the other hand didn't seem interested at all and kept talking.

Turning his head towards a bus that was now just pulling up, he watched people spill from its opened doors. There were rich kids, poor kids, nerds, jocks, and gangs of girls, a pretty big mixture for one bus. One group that stepped off drew his attention above the rest. It wasn't they way they dressed, or looked like, it was what they were saying. Clint couldn't understand a single word of it and was pretty damn sure it wasn't Spanish.

He nudged Natasha with an elbow, she had studied almost every language she could get her hands on and was planning to do the same at this school. He figured she would know.

"What are they speaking?"

She diverted her eyes from a small group of students and watched them as they passed by. They both listened. Now Clint could tell they were mixing English with whatever other language they were speaking, and it sounded weird. The head of the group, a big guy with extremely long blond hair was laughing at his friends about "the time I faced a real bilgesnip…"

Natasha shrugged, "Sounds European, probably northern, like Norwegian or something."

Clint noted this.

Natasha let out a sigh of annoyance and he followed her gaze.

He looked familiar, he knew that for sure, but had no clue as to where he had seen him before. He wasn't the jock type, but Clint could tell he was rich just by looking at the pair of hundred dollar shades he was wearing.

"Who's he?"

Natasha stared at him, "You're lucky you don't know…It's none other than Tony Stark, a jerk with billions of dollars and everything he could possibly want."

"The guy who was on the news after his parents died? Something about him inheriting Stark Industries right?"

Natasha nodded, still following the guy as he walked up the stairs, a mob of girls following after him. He stopped shortly to comment something to the blond guy that Clint remembered for blowing off the freshmen girls. Obviously whatever he had said bugged the poor guy because he turned with clenched fists all the while his face turning red with a blush. As Stark opened the door though, the billionaire turned his head and stared towards Clint and Natasha's tree.

He gave her a long look, then removed his shades, giving her a wink, and then put them back on and entered the building.

"I don't like him," Clint concluded, "I take it you don't either?"

He got a look that resembled the look of someone who was just asked if the sky was blue.

"We should get inside, get a look at the halls before school officially starts," she stood up.

Reluctantly Clint followed, he wished he could just sit under the tree forever. The new year loomed a head of him like he was a little kid about to ride the biggest roller coaster at the fair, but he wasn't scared. No, he just wanted nothing more than to lean back and relax, with Natasha at his side.

* * *

When they got inside, Natasha looked around. It was nice and clean. No cracked windows, no graffiti on the lockers. She could get used to this.

She also noticed that it was way more crowded than she had expected. Her school had been small, one of the reasons the district cut them off and joined them with this small private school, but there were just too many kids in the halls here.

She pushed her way through the crowd, Clint right on her heels.

Now it started.

She was conscious of the many pairs of eyes that locked onto her. Almost everyone they passed at least glanced at her, if not look a little longer. It was no lie that she was probably the sexiest girls in school. It had always been like that, and Natasha knew that.

Both guys and girls looked at her. The guys for obvious perverted reasons, and the girls in envy for her perfectly curved body and flawless skin. By tomorrow most of the people would be too scared to look too long.

She made it known that she could easily kick anyone's ass if they tried to touch her, but that didn't always stop some of their imaginations from running free. Especially the lowlifes who didn't have anything else to think about.

As they continued to walk, she realized that this school was different. A lot of the guys here were rich and were used to getting what they wanted. She had to hold back a shiver at the thought as she felt their piercing gazes.

She noticed that Clint seemed to sense this as well. He moved ever closer to her in a possessive manner, but didn't dare touch her. He did it every year. Shooting glares at those who looked like they were taking pleasure in the view. She knew that this was probably one of the reasons why most people thought that they were together.

The truth was that they were really close friends. Nothing more, nothing less. They were never apart for long, and did everything together. Their friendship had been complicated at first, but it was clear to Natasha that Clint would do anything he could to protect her from most things. At first she had been annoyed by his acts, but lately she was actually thankful, though she would never admit it to anyone but herself.

She was used to people turning their heads everytime she walked in a door, but lately it was getting old and as she grew up, she found that the reactions of others were a lot harsher. So she let them think that she would kill them if they tried anything. She let them she didn't care.

As they got stuck in a traffic jam of students near the main office, some group of guys made a catcall in her direction. She ignored it, but already knew that Clint was casting them threatening glares. She grabbed his arm and maneuvered through the students

She glanced back at him, "We have same first period right?"

"Yeah", it took a second for him to reply and she led him through the swarm of people mingling in the last minutes before they'd be subject to unwanted work. They had math together first period. That was the only class Clint had managed to get honors in, and besides that the two also shared P.E.

"When are you going to learn to ignore them Clint?" she glanced at the room numbers. Neither she or Clint had stayed at orientation long enough to take a tour. All they had needed was their schedule and then they had left.

"When they learn that you'd never hook up with them."

She sighed as the room numbers flew by, _45, 46, 47 – _

Someone stepped out in front of her. If it hadn't been for Clint pulling her back to a stop, she would have ran right into him. She guessed he wanted that to have happened because of the disappointed look he wore under his shades.

He brushed it off, "What is your name?"

"None of your damn business."

He looked at Clint who was glaring at him like he had to everyone else. She hoped the dark haired boy would get scared by both their attitudes.

But, of course not, it was Tony Stark, why would she expect that from him?

"Boyfriend?" He said a slight twinge of disgust pinned to it. Natasha realized she was still holding onto his arm, and immediately dropped it.

"Again Stark, none of your damn business."

She tried to push past him, but he just followed in step next to her, on the opposite side of Clint. He wasn't falling for it, or was just incredibly stupid.

"You're new here right? One of the students from that crappy school down the street? What class do you have next, I'd be more that happy to show you around," he smiled at her then added a bit softer, "I know a few good closets around here."

Clint had finally decided that the billionaire had overstayed his welcome and approached Tony, fists clenched. He grabbed a fistful shirt as close to Tony's neck as he possibly could, "You should learn when to leave a girl alone."

Tony ignored him as he was backed up against the wall and looked back towards her, "So he is your boyfriend."

Clint raised his free fist as if he was going to punch him. Tony put his hands up, "Calm down lover boy, I won't invite her to the closet ever again."

With that comment, Natasha connected her fist to his face in a well aimed punch. Clint released Tony with a final glare and came up beside Natasha once more. Natasha smiled, quite please with herself and studied his reddening face. He looked pissed.

Clint offered a fist bump, which she accepted, "Nice one."

There were some gasps as the billionaires followers rushed to him with fake concern. He pushed them away, holding the side of his face as he tried to calmly walk in a "cool" manner down in the direction of the nurses office.

"Math's just right in there," she pointed to the next room after Clint and her had watched him strut away. Then she whispered so only Clint could hear, "I'll make sure you can get a hit next time."

He nodded as a devious grin took a hold of his face.

* * *

The bell rang, and as other, new students rushed to find their classes and hope the teachers didn't mark them tardy, he just strutted down one of the halls. His face feeling a little better after he had nurtured it with an ice pack for the last five minutes. Nonetheless, it was going to leave a mark.

Tony Stark was hardly ever on time, especially on the first day of school.

Besides, he didn't have any parents who would yell at him for being late to every class, they were dead. He might get Pepper or Rhodey nipping at him every once in a while, but they were goody-two-shoes and didn't understand how being fashionably late was what made the teachers remember him. Of course there was plenty of other reasons as well, but he wasn't worried about those yet.

He pulled out his one of a kind Stark cell phone. He'd get there at least ten minutes late. That way most of the boring old, "say hi to your neighbor so you know who they are even though you'll forget until halfway through the year" ritual would be over.

He leaned casually against one of the walls, blasting AC/DC and Black Sabbath into his ears. He had no fears of getting in trouble for being out in the halls without a pass because most teachers either didn't care, or didn't want to have to deal with him.

Reflecting on the half hour worth of school so far this year, he could already tell this was going to be a much better year than the last, despite being punched. Last year he was dealing with his parent's deaths and his father's company. In fact that had taken up most of his summer as well, except, well… He didn't want to think of the worst part of his summer.

This year he had lots of new people to pester, especially the red head and lover boy. He now knew how much they could take, now all he had to do was try not to push it that far every time. He continued thinking about her. God she was a prize. He remembered first setting eyes on her under that tree after bugging Steve. She was smoking hot and he had been pleasantly surprised that she had been watching him, though the glare she had given him told that she would rather see him gutted and cooked over the fire.

And then there were all the people from last year. He already knew what to bug Steve about. Last year he was a scrawny little guy who could barely run or lift anything heavier than two pounds. Over the summer he had had a complete transformation. He had muscles and was well toned. He even appeared to have grown like a foot. Tony wanted whatever steroid Steve was taking, maybe then the red head wouldn't be so cool towards him. He liked to think that if a girl punched you, then they did like you, but they were just to stubborn to admit it. The only bad thing about being punched by her though, was that he looked like a wimp in front of anyone who had been watching. Tony Stark could not be labeled as a wimp.

Someone would pay for that.

He leaned towards that someone being loverboy, since he had been the one who had set everything up for her.

He looked at his phone once more, a quarter past eight, time to go.

When he strutted through the doorway, the teacher gave him an annoyed look.

"And here class is example A! Anyone late to my class will be rewarded with an after school detention. Stark I'll be seeing you there." The teacher walked over from the whiteboard to his desk.

"It's nice to see how much you love me Mr. Hansen," Tony glanced around the room. These were supposed to be the smart kids in high level math, so obviously lover boy had a scheduling error. He was sitting at a desk next to the red head across the room.

"Tony, just find yourself a seat, but don't get too comfortable, I'm assigning seats in just one minute. Have some one fill you in on the rules," as he spoke the last sentence the tone in which he said it was doubtful. Tony smiled and sat down in the back behind a blond chick he didn't recognize.

As the teacher fiddled with something on his laptop, Tony hoped he'd get to sit next to the red head. That would really make lover boy angry, and then he could start his work of getting under her skin.

Glancing around the room he recognized most of the people from last year's math, not that he knew most of their names. Most of them were nerds, but he didn't consider himself one of them. He was a genius, not a nerd.

The teacher then approached the front of the class, holding a clip board. "Okay mathematicians, here's your seating assignment, you must be in these seats the moment the bell rings or you will be marked tardy."

He then started calling out names and Tony leaned back in his chair. Apparently the school had run out of single desks and had to use small tables that were shared between two people. Man this merging of schools sucked.

"Tony, Clint, you're sitting here." Mr. Hansen motioned to the desk he was now standing in front of.

He stood up, but realized with a sinking feeling that he'd already met Clint. Lover boy stood up at the same time, glaring at Tony. Tony started rethinking everything so far and concluded that this year was in truth, not going to be as good as he had hoped.

The two ignored each other most of class. Clint obviously pissed the whole time. Tony just leaned back, as the teacher finished up with his beginning of the year spiel.

"Okay," the teacher clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention, "We'll kick start this year with some review working with the person next to you. I'm passing out a sheet you need to show all your work and include your partner."

"Okay lover boy, not sure how you got in this class, but feel free to do it all." Tony closed his eyes.

He didn't reply right away, but when he did he only said, "Don't call me that."

Tony opened his eyes again and leaned forward, "Why not? It's not a lie. It's the truth, mom taught me to always tell the truth."

"Words of wisdom, but I have a feeling you aren't that wise." Tony snorted. "You're wrong."

"Excuse me, how am I wrong, the way you got defensive, tell me that isn't love."

"We aren't together," Tony noticed him shoot a glance towards the red head.

He followed his gaze and saw her sitting across the room, busily working with her partner.

"God, Bruce is lucky." Tony saw the small kid sitting next to her. He was an incredibly smart kid. Tony had to admit, he was almost as smart as himself and when they had had science together last year they were the teachers star students.

"Another one of your rich playboy friends?" Clint spat finally taking a look at the paper that had been passed out.

"Nah, he's the complete opposite." Clint arched a brow for a moment of surprise, but didn't say anything.

Tony leaned back again, waiting for the class to be over. He wanted to bug his partner some more, but he looked like he was trying to hold himself back from punching in his face, and with the way he had acted earlier, Tony wouldn't put it past him.

* * *

Bruce entered the room of his second period class. His favorite class. Science.

So far, he had successfully avoided any trouble. He remembered last year with a shiver. His first day at this school was spent hiding from bullies.

In fact there hadn't been much wrong with his first class either. His math partner, Natasha was smart and he didn't have to correct her on too much. She was a little rusty around the edges, but unlike most pretty girls, she had far more brains. He had to admit she was probably one of the sexiest girls he had met, but he knew she would never go out with him, so he didn't linger on the thought.

The front board had directions written on it, which he followed. Grab a lab partner and sit down.

He looked around, not many people were here yet, and those who were here already had a partner.

He just sat down at an empty lab station and got out some supplies. When the bell rang, everyone had a partner but him.

He shrugged, he didn't mind being alone. He actually preferred it, though he had to admit, being partners with Stark last year was nothing short of fantastic. Tony was the smartest rich kid in the school, and most likely the smartest kid altogether, despite his mouth and being a ladies man.

The teacher rambled about basically the same things Mr. Hansen had said and then started passing out textbooks.

When the door opened ten minutes after class had started, no one was surprised to see none other than Tony Stark.

The teacher gave him a look of disapproval, then pointed towards Bruce.

Bruce got excited; this day just kept getting better. World beware, the science buddies were back.

Tony waltzed to his seat and nodded to Bruce, then took out his phone underneath the desk. Neither of them really needed to read any of the stuff in the textbooks, they just needed to do experiments, but Bruce guessed that they wouldn't start those for a week at least. He also couldn't help but notice the red on Tony's face, but didn't want to hurt the boys ego by asking about it.

In the next class, Bruce's least favorite class, he realized that if he thought there were worse people before the collision of schools, then he was wrong. Now, there was even more jocks and bullies in one room than he had ever experienced. And of course it was P.E. that they were all gathered.

The teachers had already decided that they wouldn't do a welcome to P.E. speech and instead just started out with dodgeball.

Of course it had to be dodgeball.

Last year, Bruce had become used to hiding in the back with Steve Rogers, but when he saw how much Steve had changed he didn't know what to do. He was extremely buff and at first Bruce had thought he had mistaken him for someone else.

Bruce had no idea how it was even humanly possibly for someone to change in just one summer. The Steve Bruce remembered was small, weak, had frequent asthma attacks and was horrible at sports, but had the heart of courage to try hitting people in dodgeball instead of just letting them pick on him.

Bruce had always been fond of that part of him, but now couldn't tell if that had changed about him as well.

So when the teams were picked, Bruce was lucky enough to end up on Steve's team.

The teachers blew a whistle and there was a sudden explosion of kids and balls everywhere.

Bruce immediately backed away from the line of fire and watched carefully for any potential enemies. So far, no one had really noticed him, but that was only because they were trying to bet the most athletic people out first, so they had a better chance at winning.

He became so focused on watching out for threats coming from the other team that he didn't realize someone from his own team had sent a ball hurtling at him.

But, before it hit him, a large boy had caught the ball and stared down Bruce's attacker, "Get out!" and he pointed towards the bleachers where those who were out were sitting.

Bruce didn't catch the guys reaction, but saw him slump over towards the bleachers.

The boy who saved him, then backed up so they stood side by side, still looking out for incoming projectiles.

It was Steve.

"Thanks Steve," Bruce managed to say.

"It's my pleasure," Steve chucked a ball across the gym flawlessly hitting his taget with more force than Bruce had ever seen him capable of.

Before he could think about what he was saying Bruce asked, "What happened to you?"

* * *

Steve glanced at his friend. _What had happened?_ he thought. The summer had been one of the biggest of his lives and he was pretty glad that it had happened.

"Well, uh, a friend of my fathers had offered to try his cure of asthma on me, and I said yes," he kept his eyes on the gym, but could still sense Bruce's shock.

"His experiment made you buff?"

"Well, no-" they both dodged an incoming ball. He chucked it back, smiling when he hit his target, "I started working out a lot."

Bruce nodded slowly, but didn't really understand.

Steve reluctantly ripped his gaze to focus on Bruce, "I felt so free, not being held back by asthma anymore, so I took advantage of it, plus a growth spurt or two," he added.

Bruce smiled and patted him on the back, "I'm happy for you Steve."

"Yeah, thanks," Steve chucked yet another ball. With his newfound strength, he should be in a different spot of the gym, somewhere where he could easily access balls and have better spot to throw from, but he felt obligated to stay by Bruce.

Bruce seemed to sense this.

"You know, I should probably try to get hit soon, before it's a one on one with the jocks."

Steve nodded thankfully and jogged into the main chaos of the game.

"Good luck," he heard Bruce call as he started chucking ball after ball at the opposing team.

He fell into a rhythm. Grab ball, scan other team, pinpoint target, throw, and then repeat the whole process over and over. He dodged ball after ball as well. The other team must have finally figured out that he was a strong player, but he dodged every attempt they had made to hit him.

As time passed, Steve soon realized with a sense of accomplishment that it was just him and one other guy on the other team.

Steve didn't recognize him from last year, but he was tall, buff, and had long blond hair. They were almost evenly matched and easily dodged each other while trying to throw at the same time.

This went on for several minutes and Steve saw the boy start to grow more and more frustrated with every throw.

Steve suddenly had an idea.

He dropped the ball he was about to throw and got ready to dodge the next attack.

Ball after ball whooshed past him, but Steve dodged every one without retaliating.

The boy, oblivious to Steve's plan chucked every ball at him, until he found no more to grab. Steve watched as the boy frantically glanced around him for something to throw.

In that moment of confusion, Steve took his opportunity to throw.

The ball hit him square in the chest and the students in the bleachers roared thunderously.

"Steve! Steve! Steve!" they all cheered as his blond opponent sagged in defeat.

Steve felt his chest swell with accomplishment as his teammates swarmed around him continuously cheering.

He was really glad that things had happened the way they had this summer.

* * *

Thor Odinson had thought that joining the exchange program would be wonderful, and indeed it had, until third period.

So far, he had met pretty girls, hit it off pretty well with teacher, gained some new friends, and his brother hadn't gotten into trouble, but now he was in a bad mood.

He had never lost any of the sports he had played back home in Scandinavia.

His classmates should have been calling his name, not Steve's.

Thor replayed the whole game in his head and concluded that the American had only won because of trickery. Otherwise Thor was confident that he would have won.

At least it was lunchtime, and as Thor and his buddies walked down to the cafeteria he listened to their excited chatter.

Sif, who had her black hair tied back, and wore respectful clothing compared to some of the other girls in school, was babbling about something she had heard about sports to Fandral.

Before he could pick out any specific words, Volstagg had elbowed Thor quite forcefully.

"Hey, lighten up, we're about to see if American food lives up to what everyone says about it." The large boy beamed.

Thor suddenly forgot about his defeat, he had completely forgotten about how hungry he had been before third period. He was overdue for some food.

Inside the large cafeteria, Thor could smell the mouthwatering flavors of fried goods. His mother had always made homemade food, and though it was delicious, the thought never crossed her mind to cook anything other than traditional Scandinavian food.

But, Thor was open to this exposure to new food.

His friends some of the early few, and were able to get through the food line in no time at all.

He carried his steaming pile of food and was followed by the others to a table in the center of the room.

His stomach let out a loud thundering, and Thor could take the urge no longer. He ferociously attacked the plate as soon as he had sat down.

His friends had the same idea, but they were a little more graceful, with the exception of Volstagg who had managed a tray twice the size of Thor's.

As the cafeteria began to fill up, Thor looked around for a familiar face. Some nice people he had met earlier asked to sit with him. He nodded, but continued searching.

He didn't see his brother anywhere. Had he gotten in trouble? Again? No, he wouldn't dare do that on the first day of school, would he? Thoughts jumbled around in his head. His brother was always getting in trouble, always ruining a fraction of Thor's image because of his antics. To put it frankly, Thor had become very annoyed by it and could hardly stand it any longer.

Fandral jabbed him in the side, "What bothers you Thor?"

"Where is Loki, shouldn't he be here?"

His friends looked around, but Sif was the one to talk first, "He didn't have the same lunch as us, right?"

Hogung nodded, silently, and Thor briefly remembered his brother telling him that. Thor managed to relax a lot more and settled in to finish his food.

Lunch had proven to be uneventful, besides a few girls flirting with him. Unfortunately, none of his friends had fifth period English, so he would have to find someone he could befriend if he wished to have fun in his least favorite class.

When he got there, he was greeted by a smiling lady, who had a clipboard with seat assignments already written on it. Much to Thor's delight, the classroom had tables set up for four people to accommodate. It would be much easier to make friends this way.

His table was in the back, but he didn't bother to look at who was sitting next to him.

There was already a dirty blonde haired boy sitting in the farthest seat from the front, silently watching everyone.

Thor smiled as he approached, taking the seat across from him, "Hello"

"Hey," the boy placed his attention on Thor. Thor thought he recognized the boy from some other class, but couldn't remember clearly. Today had been pretty exciting.

"My name is Thor Odinson," he held out his hand. Hopefully they would get along.

The boy showed a hint of surprise, most likely at his name like everyone else, but shook his hand.

"Clint Barton."

It was then that a girl with short black hair sat down in the seat next to Clint.

"Hello," he greeted her with a handshake. She seemed pleasantly surprised by his manners and arched a brow at Clint as if expressing that to him.

"The name's Maria Hill, who are you?" she asked.

Thor let go of her hand, "Nice to meet you Maria, my name's Thor Odinson."

She smiled slightly then turned to Clint, who had gone back to examining the classroom, " How has your first day gone Barton?" she seemed to imply something that Thor didn't quite get.

"Just peachy," Clint smiled deviously.

"You two know each other?" Thor asked, trying not to be left out. He saw potential in them as friends.

"We went to the other school together," Maria explained. She then narrowed her eyes, "You're an exchange student, right?"

"Yes," Thor said gleefully, "America has been delightful in my experience so far."

"Well lets hope your experience stays like that," she said just as the teacher shut the door and cleared her throat.

* * *

Loki breathed let out a bored sigh. The last period of the day was finally here, but of course it was physical education. He wasn't one of the jocks who enjoyed it, or one of the nerds who feared it. He was the type of person who didn't care for it unless he could somehow get payback on his brother, but alas, Thor did not have the same period P.E. as him.

So as he sat in the bleachers as the teachers explained they would be playing dodgeball, Loki zoned out.

His hateful thoughts were all directed towards his brother and parents, correction: Thor's parents. He had grown farther apart from his so called family ever since he had found out he was adopted nearly two years ago. Now he despised his brother even more.

They had always been competing for Odin's favor, and Thor had almost always won, but now Loki knew why. Thor was now expected to take over Odin's successful European company, while Loki was totally forgotten about.

But, what angered Loki the most was that his brother thought that there was nothing wrong with any of it. Of course he had no idea how it had felt, especially because he had always came out as the winner on top. Loki now focused all his energy into punishing Thor for his arrogance and this new school in a new country proved that he might be able to finally accomplish it.

**Thanks for reading! I hope it wasn't too horrible, and please review. I'll accept any form of constructive criticism. And I promise I'll have more Loki in the next chapter. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! Thanks for all your reviews/follows/favorites. I know a lot of you wanted this to come out sooner, but I've been on vacation with no internet and virtually no computer. Thanks for your patience and I hope you enjoy.**

Chapter 2

It was only the third day of school and it was already Friday. It was nice, but Steve figured it would have been simpler if the school just had a full week to start off with.

So, as he entered the schools grand doors, everyone was already acting like school was out.

Everyone was buzzing, but as Steve continued walking, he noticed that it wasn't the normal Friday excitement. No, there had to be something else because it was at least ten times crazier than normal.

"Hey Steve!" a familiar voice called out behind him, causing him to turn.

"Hey Bucky," he stopped and waited for his best friend to swerve among the other students. They had been friends for as long as Steve could remember, and almost nothing could break their bond. The only thing that had come somewhat close was when they were only about eight years old and climbing an oak that was in Steve's front yard.

It had probably been one of the most frightening days of Steve's life.

They had been hanging off of some of the lower branches when Bucky suggested they see who could climb highest in the tree. Steve regretted having taken the challenge. After just minutes of climbing, one of the branches Bucky had taken a hold of had snapped and he fell. Steve had tried to grab his friend, and could have if he really tried, but he had been too shocked to react quick enough. That had been the reason that Bucky and him had fallen apart for a short time.

Bucky had to have his arm amputated and he blamed Steve. Thankfully they had made up, especially after Bucky's parents were able to get him a robotic prothstetic, but Steve could never forget it. Sometimes, Steve would think about it at night, and even had nightmares, but at least they were still friends.

"Hey, Steve, you going to Stark's party tonight?" Bucky asked with excitement.

Tony Stark having a party tonight? That explained all the commotion.

Steve shook his head, "No one invited me, and no one ever would."

"You don't have to have an invitation, you just have to go to the school, so come on," Bucky begged, "I'll even find a girl to be your date if that'll make you go."

"Bucky, girls have never wanted to be my date and they always ended up with you by the end of the night anyways," He started walking again, Bucky falling in step next to him.

"Come on, everything's changed, you're the whole talk of the school after how well you've done in PE, everyone wants to be your date."

Steve arched an eyebrow.

Bucky gave him the puppy dog eyes.

"Fine, I'll _think_ about it."

"Good, I'll see you then," Bucky patted him on the back and then left.

Steve really didn't want to go to any parties, especially if they were Tony's. Tony had always been picking on Steve, but it wasn't as bad when compared with the two days they had had this year. It was a long story, but in short, Steve really didn't care for the guy.

As he was walking, something caught his eye and he stopped.

By the main news bulletin board a small light haired boy was hanging up a flier. Steve read the first word he saw, which was extremely big and easy to see.

"Shield?" Steve thought aloud. What could that possibly be?

The kid spun around and looked star struck for a minute, but Steve didn't really notice, instead he was trying to read the flier, but the kid got in the way.

"Steve Rogers? Right?" the boy handed him a flier from the many he held in his hands.

"Yeah," he took it, "What's Shield?"

"I think you'd be perfect for it Steve, we're having our first meeting next Tuesday."

Steve looked at the boy, who was smiling from ear to ear, but he didn't explain any further.

Steve arched an eyebrow, "So what is it?"

The boy seemed to snap out of whatever daze he was in, "Sorry," he said somewhat sheepishly, "We're a club dedicated to student safety, but you can't learn anything else unless you join."

Steve didn't know what to say as the boy looked at him expectantly. This club sounded like a good idea, dedicated to student safety, but Steve didn't really think he would have time for it with all the things he planned on doing this year. First of all, he was going to join all the sports teams he could get his hands on, and second he would need to focus on making sure his grades were decent so he could fulfill that dream.

But, studying the boys excited face, he had to be polite. So after a moment of silence, Steve sighed, "Thanks, I'll think about it."

The boy smiled, "Good," then he walked off into the sea of people.

Steve glanced back down at the paper in his hand. The only information on it was the word "S.H.I.E.L.D." written in big letters and the time and place for the first meeting.

The five minute bell rang and he quickly placed the flier in his binder and started towards his first period class.

* * *

Tony strutted into first period forty-five minutes after class had begun. He did this for three reasons. The first was that he had to maintain his image, of course. Two was because he seriously needed to repair that image after Wednesday morning. And three, he really didn't want to have to face the pair who had broken that image.

Half the school had found out in less then five minutes, while the other half, the ones who didn't text in class, had found out by lunchtime. It was the first slab of juicy gossip the school could get their hands on, and boy was it a big slab to them.

Tony wouldn't be surprised if the whole country, and in most possibilities, the world, knew about his incident by tonight.

The worst part of it all was that the redhead had left a mark. A _really _big mark.

His right eye was swollen and he had a huge bruise that Tony swore covered at least half his face.

Both of them were going to pay. And for the first time in his whole life, Tony didn't care about how attractive she was. She was going to pay.

He was suffering all because of them. First of all, it hurt like hell. Second, he had a mob of his "friends" following him around everywhere treating him like some baby and that was just too much. But, topping it off, Tony was treated by seventy-five percent of the school like a baby, twenty-five percent of the people like a joke, and a small zero point zero nine was his assaulters acting like he didn't exist.

So, the only logical way to fix his image had to be throwing a party. As long as the students actually came and, and he knew they would, then a party was a free pass back to the top.

Well past first period and into second, Tony finally made it to class.

He got a strained look from the teacher as he marked him tardy with a couple clicks of his laptop mouse.

Tony walked back over to his lab station and observed the class was still reading textbooks.

Well, everyone except Bruce.

Tony slid onto his lab stool and looked at the brunette. No, he wasn't reading the textbook the teacher had passed out. Instead he was halfway through some huge book completely dedicated to Gamma Radiation.

Tony was extremely bored. He didn't have anything but his phone, and he really didn't want to look at hundreds of messages all concerning his black eye. It just didn't seem appealing.

So he sat back, twiddled his thumbs, leaned forward, scratched his head, but he still didn't know what to do.

He decided he might as well talk to his lab partner.

Tony poked him in the side with a pencil causing the boy to stare at him with slight annoyance and whisper in an exasperated tone, "What do you want Tony?"

"I just want to ask you a question,"

"Well it better be quick."

Tony pretended to be offended and put a hand over his heart, "Obviously you care more about your book than your own lab partner."

Bruce rolled his eyes, but stuck a bookmark in his book and closed it hesitantly. He then looked at Tony expectantly, "What were you going to ask me?"

Tony peered over at the books title then looked at Bruce, "_The Complete Guide to Gamma Radiation_? What's so interesting about that?"

"Well I already know way more about the stuff they're all reading," he glanced over at the rest of the class, "And it's science class, so if I'm going to read anything during class, it better be about science."

"So you just went to the library and saw this thing and said, 'Out of all these highly interesting books, I chose you'?"

Bruce sighed, "Did you really interrupt me just to talk about my 'strange' interest in books?"

"Pfft, of course not," Tony said, "That was just me getting your attention. Now, my real question was if you're coming to my party or not."

Bruce looked somewhat surprised, but not extremely shocked like Tony had expected, "You want me to be at a party with tons of kids who tend to ignore me on a daily basis? Aren't there stupid rules about what kinds of people you can invite to parties?"

"I'm Tony Stark, I don't follow the rules," Tony couldn't help but grin at this realization.

"But still, why do you want me to come?" the suspicion in Bruce's tone made Tony start to rethink even trying, but he wasn't going to back down anytime soon.

"Well, I thought you might want to be included in something awesome like that," Tony was lying and he knew Bruce could tell. He could feel him searching his face for the real reason, but Tony would never tell a soul.

"I'm not sure Tony," Bruce said after the long silence that had followed Tony's lie. He pulled the book back towards him and was going to open it again, but Tony slammed his hand on it, causing some of the other students to look up from their reading, but Tony didn't care.

Tony knew exactly what to say, "If you come and mingle in the party for five minutes, I'll let you use my private labs the whole rest of the night, all to yourself."

Bruce didn't have to think too long before the reply that Tony knew would come shot out of his mouth, "Well if you put it like that five minutes isn't that bad."

"Good, I'll see you there," Tony patted Bruce on the back and let the boy get back to his reading.

* * *

Loki reflected on his first week in this American school while sitting in his math class. Of course it was the highest possible math class this school offered, but he needed to plan.

Before even leaving their home country, Loki had decided the first three days of school would be spent scouring the school and its occupants for the perfect tool to help him against Thor.

He had to admit, it had been somewhat tricky to mentally sift through everyone he had met to find the perfect asset, but rest assured, he had found a couple possibilities.

He needed someone who was smart, sly, and didn't care about what happened afterwards. Loki had discovered there weren't that many people who carried these traits, but when he had learned about Tony Stark's incident, he knew that they were exactly who he needed.

Loki couldn't help but to crack a sinister smile, they were perfect.

Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton had gotten away with punching the richest most popular guy in school without much consequence. Obviously they didn't care what anyone else called them or if they were marked as freaks. He could easily relate to them, all three of them were currently marked as social outcasts. Loki also had several classes with Natasha and knew she was extremely intelligent as well. Possibly too intelligent for his plans, but having her and her partner on his side was not something he could pass up.

So when the bell rang for next period he quickly gathered his things and started out the door, finally ready to commence his ultimate plan.

Loki slid into his seat in AP Social Studies nearly ten seconds before the bell rang. He was near the back of the room and could see most of the class from this vantage point.

It wasn't hard to spot her fiery red hair in front of him. She had all her stuff neatly organized on her desk and was waiting for the teacher to finish attendance.

Loki needed to try making a move soon, so when the teacher finished the attendance and announced that their first project would be with a partner, Loki thanked his luck.

"Now, don't get your partner yet," the teacher said, stopping several students from standing up, "Let me at least explain what we're doing first…"

The past two days the teacher had asked them to work with partners and Loki had observed that Natasha had never staked claim to anyone, and no one staked claim on her. She just got stuck with whoever was left, so Loki knew he wouldn't have to do too much to be her partner.

As the teacher continued to explain the assignment, Loki scribbled _Natasha, would you be my partner?_ on a scratch piece of paper. He then silently crumpled it up and chucked it at her.

He was quite pleased that he had managed to actually hit her and that nobody else in the room seemed to have noticed.

He watched her undo the paper ball and scoured the seats behind her for the creator. She locked eyes with Loki and arched a brow. He nodded slightly to confirm her suspicion.

She turned back to her desk and scribbled something, then threw the paper back to him.

At least he got a response. That was a good start.

He read her response written in elegant handwriting, _Why would you _want _to be my partner?_

He needed to make sure he wrote the right thing or else she might suspect more than she probably already did, so he chose he words carefully, reflecting on what he had noticed about her. _Because I think you'd rather be partnered with someone who admires what you did to Stark rather than one of his petty followers. _

He tossed it back to her and was watching her until he heard a "Psst!" from his other side.

He turned in his seat to see a very nerdy looking boy leaning over the desk towards him.

"What?" Loki hissed at him. His name was Aldrich Killian and they had been partners the past two days, but they really had nothing in common. Between questions on assignments, he would constantly start babbling about Tony Stark and how much he wished Stark would look at the things he was working on. Seriously, Loki felt like gagging every time the kid opened his mouth to say anything because Loki knew for damn sure that whatever he was going to say was going to be about the stuck up billionaire.

"Loki, do you want to be partners again?" Aldrich asked.

"Go find someone else," Loki blew him off as a paper ball hit his head. He turned his back on the small kid, but he could still feel the disappointment from the boy wash over him. Loki didn't care about Aldrich, at the moment he needed to make sure his plans would go as planned.

He undid the paper, _As long as you don't try to hit on me then I guess you're better than the stupid girl I had to be partners with yesterday._

Loki smiled to himself, things were going smoother than he had expected.

"Ok, time to grab your partner and a guide sheet up front," the teacher announced. Loki slid out of his seat, grabbed the guide sheet and sat down in the seat next to the redhead while she pushed her desk right up to his.

"Hello Natasha," he said carefully, he didn't want to make her get the wrong idea.

"Loki, right?" she asked, flipping through the pages of her textbook, "Thor's brother?"

Loki flinched at the mention of Thor, "Unfortunately, yes."

She narrowed her eyes, "What'd he do to deserve your disapproval?"

Loki sighed, he might as well tell her the truth, "Well long story short, we are, first of all, _not_ brothers. I found out just two years ago that I was adopted and he just doesn't understand what he did to me," he didn't want to bore her with too many details.

She nodded as if she understood something about what he was going through and he could have sworn she was going to say something, but she didn't.

He decided to change the subject, "So what did Stark do to deserve your disapproval?" He quoted her words and watched her carefully.

She snorted, "I'm just putting him in his place."

Loki laughed, "I think a lot of the people in this school need to be put in their rightful place," his words reminded him of Thor.

Natasha rolled her eyes, "I'm glad somebody can see the truth."

"Yes, but I think Stark deserved it the most, so…" he started clapping his hands lightly, "I congratulate you."

She studied him for a few long seconds, then, to his delight said, "Loki, I think we'll get along pretty well."

* * *

Natasha had to admit she was starving.

So, when the bell rang for second lunch, she was out of the door in less than two seconds. She started down the hall towards her locker. She was not afraid to plow anyone over. If they got in her way, it was their fault.

"Whoa Nat, wait up!" she heard a familiar voice call from behind her. She sighed and slowed down a tiny big. Not a lot, just a tiny, tiny bit.

When he caught up to her, she sped back up again.

"What happened? You're like a snow plow trying to win the grand prix," Clint said sarcastically, though, the way he said it, Natasha could sense he was slightly concerned.

"I am so damn hungry," she said, finally spotting their locker.

She heard him let out a chuckle as her feet screamed to a silent stop in front of the locker.

In the blink of an eye she had undid her lock and opened the door. She was about to just throw her stuff in and turn back towards the cafeteria, but there was a note hanging inside from the slits in the door. She took the note in her hand and sighed when she spotted the circular emblem that resembled a bird stamped on the back, her last name written nicely on bottom. She flipped it over and started reading.

Clint had finished putting his stuff away when he finally spotted the note.

"Yours, or mine?" he asked.

"Mine. It's only the third day of school, couldn't they at least wait until next week before they start all of this again?" she said slamming the locker door closed with a _CLANG!_

Some of her locker neighbors looked at her strangely. She didn't care.

They started back down the hall, though not at the same pace as before.

"What do they want you to do?" He said quietly, pressing close enough to her so that no one else could hear. Technically they weren't supposed to talk about anything they got from S.H.I.E.L.D. to anyone, but they were partners, they could keep secrets.

"They're going to brief me at the beginning of lunch," she said defeated. It would be awhile before she got to satisfy her poor stomach.

Clint patted her on the back, reassuringly "Don't worry; I'll save you a seat."

She couldn't help but laugh. No one sat at their table. There weren't even that many people on that side of their cafeteria. That's how much they were hated by the rest of the student body.

When they reached the doors of the cafeteria, the smell of food tempted her, but unfortunately she had to veer away along the side of the building towards her secret rendezvous.

Out of all the possible times, it just had to be lunch, didn't it?

* * *

Clint had gotten his lunch and was sitting down at Natasha and his table. Third lunch sucked. If there was even enough food left over to get a proper serving, then it was always ice cold. He could tell Natasha would be extremely mad when she came back, so he braced himself for her to storm over completely consumed in rage.

A hungry Natasha was a deadly one.

She didn't come for a while, which only made the situation worse.

Clint didn't really know what to do, he had barely made a dent in his food and now he was extremely bored.

He just kept his eyes focused on the doors waiting for her to come back. With a sudden pang in his chest, Clint realized that if he didn't have Natasha, he really would be alone. He didn't want to even consider that.

He was so lost in thought that when a tall skinny boy with long slicked back hair approached, Clint almost jumped in surprise. The keyword was almost. With eyes like a hawk, it was extremely hard to sneak up on him. He only knew one person who actually could, and she was _not_ this boy standing in front of him.

"Hello, would you mind if I sit here," he said, gesturing towards the empty table by waving his tray full of food in the general direction.

Clint blinked, today was just full of surprises.

"Sure I guess…"

The newcomer nodded thankfully, then slid into the seat across from him and started to prod at his food.

"My names Loki… Odinson," he spoke his last name through gritted teeth, which struck Clint as odd. "Say, your friends with Natasha right?"

"Yes, why does she matter to you?"

Clint eyed him suspiciously. If he was going through all this trouble to sit here to try to hit on Natasha, then Clint was sure he was going seriously hurt him.

Loki didn't really like the awkward silence, "We're partners in social studies, so I thought she might be willing to let me sit at her table."

Clint didn't say anything, he just continued to study him. There was something about him that just wasn't right. There was something lain deep beneath the surface that Clint just couldn't see. Whatever it was, he did a good job of hiding it.

Loki glanced around, "Where is she anyway?"

"She had something important to do," Clint couldn't help but glance towards the doors once more.

"Wait, did I ask your name yet?" Loki must have realized he wasn't going to get an elaborate answer anytime soon.

"It's Clint Barton, but you probably already knew that."

"And why would that be?"

Clint stared at the guy, was he completely clueless, "Haven't Tasha and I been the buzz this whole year?"

Loki shrugged dismissively, "Maybe I don't care about that sort of thing."

Clint considered this, but was distracted when he spotted a head full of fiery read hair quickly approaching.

He didn't have time to stop her as she silently sat down next to him and took his whole tray of food from in front of him. She was even more furious than she had been before.

She barely acknowledged Loki, but he was smart and kept his mouth shut.

"You're welcome?" He asked hesitantly after a moment of silence, where the only noise between the three of them was Natasha munching on his food.

She stopped to glare at him, then returned eating, mumbling something under her breath between mouthfuls. Clint hated when she acted like this, but she only did when there was a reasonable explanation, but it would take her a while to cool down.

Clint looked over at Loki, who seemed somewhat concerned, but he still didn't say anything.

It wasn't long before Natasha had finished eating and that had managed to calm her down somewhat. She pushed the tray back to him. She had eaten all of its contents, though she hadn't touched his slice of pizza surprisingly.

It took her another moment to mask her anger completely and she finally turned back into the Natasha that Clint preferred to be around. Well, she was still slightly annoyed, but Clint couldn't blame her.

"What's the news?" Clint finally dared to ask.

She glanced at Loki, who Clint had almost forgotten about. Again, the keyword was almost. Eyes of a hawk right?

Loki appeared to sense what they wanted to talk about was private because he stood to leave, "I'm sorry for intruding I'll just –"

Natasha cut him off with a sigh, "It's fine, you can stay."

Loki nodded his thanks then sat back down.

"So…" Clint prompted.

Both Loki and him stared at her intently, waiting to hear what she was fuming about.

"I've had a change of plans for tonight," she said disgustedly, her lips casting themselves into a deep frown, "Loki, are you going to the party?"

"Starks party?" the dark haired boy was dumfounded. The person Tony Stark probably hated the most at the moment was going to go to his party? Clint would have felt the same way if it wasn't for that fact that he knew SHIELD had something to do with it. Loki continued, "Why in the hell would you go? I thought you hated him!"

"Well are you going?" She pressed, ignoring his outburst.

"No, I wasn't planning to, why?"

"Well, I just thought it would be nice to have more than just Clint there with me."

"Wait- you automatically assume I'm going with you?" Clint burst in trying to sound sarcastic, "What if I have something better to do than watch our peers dance and drink and do stupid things?"

"What could you possibly be doing that's better?" she challenged with a raised eyebrow, "Watching chick flicks all night? No, wait- you're more into My Little Pony right?"

Loki chuckled and Clint rolled his eyes, "I guess you present a good argument."

"It's settled then, Clint pick both of us up around seven."

Clint rolled his eyes again. She was way too controlling.

Loki didn't look happy being forced into this either, but he mumbled quietly, "Sure, why not?"

* * *

Thor was once again sitting in social studies, talking to his two table mates.

"So then I tackled the beast to the ground, and with one slash of my knife I swiftly killed it," Thor demonstrated himself slashing an imaginary beast with the scissors he was using.

"Nice," Maria seemed impressed, though Clint looked a little skeptical, but Thor noticed his mouth was slightly agape.

Thor beamed and returned to cutting out some pictures of some guy from the eighteen hundreds. He loved surprising Americans with his great adventures back home. He had quickly learned that the children here were more interested in technology than he had ever been. When he had been younger, his family would engage him in every outdoor and athletic activity possible and he had loved it. The same could not be said for his brother though.

He was still smiling when the sandy haired boy spoke up. Thor had learned quite quickly that Clint Barton hardly ever took the initiative to start conversations, so when he spoke up, Thor was delighted.

"You and Loki are brothers right?"

Thor nodded, "Why do you ask?"

"Well," he rubbed the back of his head, "Tasha let him sit with us today, and I just wanted to know a bit more about him."

Maria seemed to take interest in his statement and stopped coloring on their poster for a minute.

Thor nodded in understanding, "I see."

He didn't know where to start. He had tried so many times to sugar coat his answers when it came to this subject, but his brother always found some way to mess it up.

He stared at the paper he was cutting, but could sense the gazes of his group.

"Loki's, uh, very smart…" he was already off to a bad start, "but he tends to cause trouble at the most inconvenient times. It didn't always used to be like this, but it seems that ever since he found out he was adopted, he's gotten into trouble repeatedly."

He could tell that Clint and Maria were already judging him, though they didn't say anything. Why did he decide to tell the truth this time?

"But," he said quickly, trying to somehow think of a way to fix it. He really didn't want his brother to be marked as a troublemaker. "I think he's changed since coming to America. He hasn't caused any trouble yet."

Hopefully that was a convincing piece of information. He could tell they were both processing it, but what they truly thought about it, he could not decipher.

"So," he wanted to desperately change the subject, "Do either of you have siblings?"

Something dark flashed in Barton's eyes which scared Thor, but not as much as Maria's reaction.

In the time he had known her. Three days to be exact, she had always been in control of her emotions and he had never seen her break that mask. Now she had completely stiffened, her hands shaking, forcing her to drop the marker she was holding. Her expression was blank as her eyes obviously whirled with some painful memory.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think –" He started. He really wasn't expecting either reaction from such a simple question.

"I'm going to go to the restroom," Maria stood up, and spoke shakily, interrupting his apologies. She swiftly walked out the door of the classroom.

He glanced back at Clint who was still lost in a painful memory. Thor really didn't mean for this and didn't want to ruin the relationship he had with the two, "I am extremely sorry."

Clint snapped out of his trance and his stormy eyes looked at Thor reassuringly, "You couldn't have known," he said quietly, and returned to typing up their essay. That was the beginning of a silence that would stick with them the whole rest of the period.

* * *

During sixth period, Bruce was seriously rethinking his decision to go to Tony's party. He shouldn't have said yes so soon. He should have thoroughly thought everything through before he had jumped to his conclusion instead of being forced to do it now. Now it just seemed like the worst idea he'd ever had.

He could always chose not to go, but then he'd have to face Tony and that would be a torture he did not want to endure.

He slapped his hand to his face in a facepalm, which attracted the curiosity of his project partner, Jane Foster.

She tilted her head, "You okay Bruce?"

He ran a hand through his hair, then stared at the work on their desk intently, "Yeah, I just made a really stupid decision this morning."

"Ah, and if you mind me asking, what would that 'stupid' decision be?"

"I let Tony Stark convince me to go to his party," he started laughing as a thought popped into his head, "Can you imagine me at a party? I've never been to one and now I just blindly agreed to go."

She shrugged and said plainly, "You don't have to go if you don't want to."

"Well, I'm not sure you understand that Tony would use that against me the rest of the year if I didn't go."

"Really, Stark would be offended if a nerd, no offense, didn't come to his party? I see that as surprising."

He guessed she didn't really know how close the two were. Now that he thought about it, Tony probably kept most things like that under wraps so it wouldn't ruin his reputation. Bruce had never really minded, not until times like this when he had to try to explain everything.

"We've been somewhat good friends since last year when we were partnered up in science, but I don't think he really told many, or for that matter, let anybody really know about how close we really are."

Jane blinked in surprise, "How close are you?"

"It seems like he treats me as a real friend, like Pepper Potts, or James Rhodey. He doesn't treat me like that mob that hangs around him all the time, in fact he actually makes fun of those people with me. It's actually kind of nice, but now he'll expect me to come to the party even if the world was ending."

Jane processed this, "Looks like you're kinda screwed."

"Kinda?" he huffed, a smile creeping over his face, "I don't think that's the right word."

"Sorry, it's just the first one that came to mind," she paused to think once more, "I guess I'll be seeing you at the party then?"

"Yeah, you'll probably see me hanging off a chandelier by my pants right when you walk in the door," he said laughing, but secretly hoping that wouldn't truly happen.

"I'll make sure to take some pictures for you to put in a scrapbook. _Bruce Banner's First Party,_" she exaggerated in a news anchor like voice.

He laughed as they began to get back to work, but despite Jane's attempts, he was still uncomfortable with the whole thing.

Why did his life have to be so complicated?

**So, tell me what you think! I have most of the key planned out, I'm just not sure how I'm going to connect them all. Some of you have already told me what you want to see in this, and I've taken some of these suggestions into account, and I'd love to hear more. Thanks!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm soooooooo sorry I haven't posted in a while. I had to go on one last vacation, then school has started up and between sports and homework I haven't got much time to write. I also had a lot of trouble trying to write this chapter. I know where I want this story to go, I just haven't figured out exactly how to get there. It's also hard to write. Do you know how hard it is to write everyone's point of view without having it be pointless fluff? It was also hard because as I was rereading, I realized most of the characters were friendly towards each other. The only conflicts were between Clint/Natasha vs. Tony and Thor vs. Steve (but I think only Thor thinks that) but in order for this to work out, they all need to hate each other. **

**Sorry, I will stop rambling now...**

**I'm not sure if I'm really happy with it, but I needed to update, so here you go. Enjoy!**

Chapter 3

Clint was loosing bigtime.

But this was not his first time loosing bigtime either. He wondered why he even tried anymore, but there was a sliver of hope that just would not let go and just when he thought his self esteem couldn't be lowered further, she did it again.

And again.

And again.

He tossed the white Wii controller onto the bed behind him as soon as he passed the finish line and fell back with it.

"You finally finished?" Natasha laughed having been at least one lap ahead of him nearly thirty seconds after the race had started.

"If it wasn't for Baby Mario's stupid banana and Yoshi following up by knocking me off the edge, I would have beat you," He grumbled.

"In your dreams," she taunted, amusement sparkling in her green eyes, "Just give up already. You know I'll kick your ass every time until you do."

Silence.

She waited.

"So, what's the game plan for tonight?" He finally spoke, pulling himself up into a sitting position.

She stared at him from across the room, next to his T.V. leaning one hand against the stand, "Don't change the subject."

"No, I'm not trying to change the subject. We really need to figure this out." He glanced at the alarm clock behind him, "It's already four. We only have three hours to prepare."

"_We?_ If I remember correctly Fury only asked for me to handle this one." She snapped, the amusement from moments before trickling away.

"Well why in the world did you drag me into this if you didn't need my help?"

"I don't _need _your help!" she spat defensively.

Clint sighed, pinching the bridge between his eyes. He said the wrong thing and he knew it. Natasha would never ask for help and if someone ever mentioned offering it to her they were asking for death. Clint could usually get away with it if he even tried, but she wasn't exactly in a good enough mood to let it slip this one time.

"Sorry," he mumbled, "Can you at least tell me why _you_ have to go to Stark's party?"

She glared at him a second, but her anger quickly dissipated back to her almost invisible seething.

Relaxing against the wall she sighed, "I guess SHIELD thinks Stark's gonna be some big threat to the school," she didn't sound like she believed it one bit. He didn't either.

"I could name a dozen people who possessed a higher threat to school security than him," Clint snorted. He couldn't believe for a second that, despite the billionaire's reckless behavior, he would ever endanger his image, let alone other student's lives.

"I know, but Fury seems to think he's not well after his parent's deaths and the covered up events that happened this summer. I know he's not telling me something, but of course he chooses me to try and get information."

"Has Fury gone crazy?" Did he not know about the two's history?

"Everyone in SHIELD is crazy," she shot back.

Clint smirked, "True. So how are you going to get the information when Stark hates your guts?"

Natasha didn't reply and Clint couldn't miss the frustration that flashed across her eyes, "Fury has got to be punishing me."

"What?" he asked in annoyance. When would she learn that not everyone was out to make her life miserable.

"Why else would he give me a nearly impossible mission with hardly any direction? He's punishing me," she hissed, eyes swimming with anger once more.

"For what? What does he have to hold against you? He probably just gave it to you because he knows you'd get the job done with no problems," Clint pushed himself off the bed to turn the game consol off. He then glanced back at her disbelieving eyes, "Believe me, he trusts you," he said softly, but sincerely.

Natasha looked away and didn't utter a word.

There was a long silence, but Clint knew better than to wait. If she had wanted to say something, she would have said it by now. So, with a sigh, he started rummaging through his closet looking for something better to wear than the worn out clothes he was wearing at the moment.

He had found a decent shirt when she finally broke the silence, "I've got to get ready."

She started towards the door grabbing her backpack on the way, but Clint blocked her angrily, "Nat, you still haven't told me what you're plan is."

She pushed past him, "I'll figure something out, but I'm ignoring Stark at all costs."

And with that she headed down the stairs. He heard his front door shut as Clint tried to piece together how she was going to get the information without approaching the target.

* * *

Five minutes to seven and Loki was looking out the window at the driveway below. He had thought about canceling on Natasha and Clint, but he had changed his mind. He changed his mind because Thor was going and Loki couldn't waste a chance to ruin his brother's life. A party was the perfect place for that, the opportunity need only to rise.

He spun around to a knock on his door.

Someone turned the handle and slowly pushed the door open, "Loki, are you sure you do not want to come to the party? We have an extra seat in the car."

Loki stared across the room at his blonde haired brother, "I don't need you to baby sit me," he spat.

Thor frowned, "I just thought it would be a good opportunity for you to meet some nice people and have a good time."

Loki felt hate rekindle inside him. Thor might of well have said, _you're an outsider who needs to stop being one._ His brother just didn't understand. Maybe Loki preferred to be an outsider instead of one of the dodo birds who tried to be what everyone else wanted them to be. There were too many of those types of people and it made him want to vomit just thinking about it.

"Loki, what's wrong?" Thor's voice snapped him back to the present situation.

"Nothing, just leave me be!"

"Are you sure you're not coming?" Thor pressed once again. Loki swore he would have snapped his neck right there if he had been close enough.

"If you really need to know that badly, then yes I am going, but –" there was a honking from outside, perfect timing, "I've got my own ride."

With that being said, he stormed past Thor and out their caretakers door.

Outside, Loki could feel his brother's eyes on his back. He rolled his eyes, then walked over to the shiny silver Prius pulled over on the side of the road. He opened the back door to find Clint already sitting on the other side. In the front passenger seat was Natasha, looking stunning in a leopard pattern dress. And driving, Loki guessed was Clint's mother.

Nobody really said anything, though Loki could tell the woman in the driving seat was itching to say something, but held back, probably in the hopes that someone else would speak first.

Finally she gave in, shifting the car into drive and pulling away from Loki's house, "You're Clint and Natasha's friend?"

"Yes, my name's Loki Odinson," he didn't know exactly how to act around a friends parent. He guessed American's acted somewhat polite towards their elders, but from what he'd seen so far, he really didn't know exactly what to expect.

"I'm glad to see a new face, I'm Clint's foster mom, Jan Herbert."

"Thanks for driving me Mrs. Herbert," He was really starting to feel uncomfortable. He glanced at the other two who had had no part in this conversation so far. From what he could see, Natasha appeared to be texting, while Clint was staring out the window.

"It's nothing dear, and you can just call me Jan."

"Okay," Loki said hesitantly. He wasn't used to calling women by their first names. Odin had always made sure Thor and he addressed a lady with some sort of title.

"You know it's nice to see Clint making more friends than just Natasha here," she started.

Loki really didn't know what to say now, "Ummm…."

"Jan, please don't," Clint grumbled.

And that's how the rest of the car trip went; Jan asking all sorts of questions, Loki trying his best to answer them, and Clint butting in occasionally to veer away from touchy subjects.

They finally pulled into the large, elegant driveway of the StarkMansion. There was a fountain in the middle of the driveway that glowed different vibrant colors as the water cascaded down its sides. There were quite a few cars trying to drop of their passengers, but it wasn't long before all three of them had jumped out of the car.

"Okay, have fun, don't get into too much trouble, and call me when you need to be picked up," Loki heard Jan calling to Clint.

He watched the blonde haired boy nod and shut the door, sending the car off.

Clint then turned around and cringed, "Next year we'll be able to drive ourselves around."

The three of them just stood where they were, gazing up at the large house in front of them. Loki was used to big houses, since his father was a successful business man back home, so he didn't stare at it as long as the other two. He had to admit it was a nice looking house on the outside. It was obviously modern but had a classy look to it, especially because of the massive marble collums that greeted them by the large door.

The only thing that ruined the image was a crowd of teenagers hurriedly pushing themselves in through the open doors.

The three of them quickly found themselves swept in with the crowd and eventually made it inside where Loki's ear drums were quickly attacked by booming speakers. There were lights flashing everywhere and people dancing crazily in what appeared to be the main hall. There were large windows on the other side of the room the stretched from floor to ceiling that revealed people on the outside patio where there also appeared to be a pool.

He turned around, "What are we-"

They were gone.

He spun around searching the crowd, he saw a flash of red hair maneuvering across the dance floor and he spotted Clint climbing up a grand staircase on the left side of the large room.

The ones who had dragged him into this had ditched him.

He _almost_ couldn't believe it.

* * *

Bruce had arrived at the same time everyone else decided to, which was not what he had planned. He didn't want to be around so many people and it just got worse as he tried desperately to find Tony.

He had somehow managed to make it out to the pool before he finally bumped into somebody, and when he did, there was little he could do from completely crashing into them.

"S-Sorry," he slunk back, but when he looked up he sighed relief at the sight of Jane. He was glad he hadn't run into someone who used nerds as punching bags.

"Nah, it's okay," she reassured him.

"You look nice," he noticed her nice turquoise summer dress. He was used to seeing her in casual jeans and shirt, but she had almost completely changed.

She blushed, "Thanks Bruce, and by the way, aren't you supposed to be hanging from a chandelier right now?"

"Uh, yeah, I'll get to that in a minute," he laughed, "but right now I'm looking for Tony, have you seen him?"

She fought for a second with a thoughtful hum, "I think I saw him over by the drinks," she pointed back inside the house.

Relieved, Bruce thanked her before she was swept away by one of her eager friends.

When he made it to where the drinks were being served, Bruce immediately spotted a mob surrounding with out a doubt, Tony Stark.

A queasy feeling gripped his stomach. Why was he here!? He shook it away, no, he could do this. He could do this. Taking a deep breath he pushed his way between two blonde haired girls and saw Tony sitting on a barstool, sipping what Bruce had no doubt was alcohol.

Some boy Bruce recognized as Justin Hammer was currently trying to get the billionaires attention, though he was occupied with talking to two girls to his right.

Bruce didn't know exactly what to do. Should he just go up there and get straight to the point. What if Tony did something stupid. He was drinking after all.

Luckily, Bruce didn't have to do anything but stand there, because miraculously, Tony had spotted him.

He instantly launched to his feet, blowing off both Hammer and the two girls, "Ah, Bruce, buddy, I thought you'd ditched."

"Believe me, I seriously thought about it," He clapped a hand on Bruce's back and guided him across the room. Bruce tried to ignore the strange looks he was given by the posse that had earlier been surrounding Tony.

Once out of the main room, Tony placed his drink on some small table that sat in the hallway, and let go of Bruce. He then led him around a few twists and turns that Bruce knew for sure that he wouldn't be able to find his way out.

They reached a metal door with a touchpad lock which Tony furiously typed numbers into. But, before he pressed the enter button, he turned back to Bruce.

He felt the excitement start to fester inside him as Tony prolonged his suffering. If Tony didn't open that door in the next thirty seconds… Well, lets just say Bruce was scared for what might happen to Tony.

"Okay Brucie, there are some rules before you go in here," Tony started, "though I highly doubt your worse then me at following them, so I don't really think you need to hear them, but here I go. One, do whatever you want as long as you don't blow up my house, threaten baby animals lives, or destroy the worlds supply of blueberries. Two, don't take my stuff or bring anyone else in. And three, don't try to hack JARVIS."

Bruce nodded eagerly not even bothering to ask what Jarvis was, and Tony finally pressed the button. Something inside the door clicked and Tony tugged the handle, stepping inside.

Bruce felt like a little kid stepping into Disneyland for the first time. Though he considered himself a scientist, the whole thing felt truly magical. He lived in an all boys home where they shared a room and didn't have any place to practice their hobbies, so Bruce was only able to test out his ideas at school, and that had plenty of restrictions.

The room was large, filled with computers, labs, tools, and all sorts of materials. There seemed to be a main testing area in the middle of the room, where the floor was covered in black streaks of what Bruce guessed was burn marks.

Tony clapped his hands, bringing back Bruce from his awestruck moment.

"Let's see," the boy paced around the room, "Well, obviously we've got computers, labs, and all the tools your little heart desires," he gestured to the corresponding places," we've also got holograms that Jarvis can bring up for you. Jarvis, you awake?"

"Yes sir, as always I am at your command," an accented voice made Bruce jump in surprise and he looked around for it's maker, but couldn't see anyone.

Tony had a bemused look on his face, "I love doing that."

"Umm, do you care to explain?" Bruce relaxed, but still glancing about the room.

"He's my computer butler," Tony was typing passwords into the dozen computers he had. Bruce accepted the explanation though it still didn't make much sense.

"He can help you with almost everything you need. Jarvis, bring up the map of the house."

"Yes sir," Suddenly there was a flash of blue as a hologram of Tony's mansion appeared, floating in the middle of the room. Bruce was in even more disbelief than before. Tony walked up to it, barely tapping it, which sent it spinning in place. Then with some hand movements similar to something someone would use with an I-pad, the hologram zoomed in, until they were looking at a perfectly detailed map of the room they were standing in.

Tony then "tossed" it at Bruce. Bruce cursed himself for trying to dodge a virtual projectile and fiddled with it in his hands, trying to remember exactly what Tony had done to try to make it zoom out again.

After a minute of Bruce desperately trying to make it work with him, but instead making it execute a number of radical movements, Tony stepped in and simply pulled his hands away from each other, zooming the picture out.

Bruce felt embarrassed, but Tony had somehow made the hologram disappear, "Comes in handy."

He then glanced around the room, "I think that's- nope, there's one more thing," He pointed to two robotic arms at the other end of the room, "You can use those guys too, even though the one on the left isn't that smart, they come in handy when you need someone to spray you with a fire extinguisher. Oh, and one other thing, don't go in through that door over there," he pointed across the room at another door that looked like the one they had just walked through, just without the security pad.

"Why?" Bruce dared to ask.  
Tony seemed to search for an answer, "It's uh, it was my dad's lab, and I haven't touched it since the accident," he said quickly after a moment of thought, then started towards the door, "Have fun."

Bruce watched the boy leave, and just before the door closed he yelled a great big thank you, then delved right into his Disneyland.

* * *

Tony smiled to himself as he walked back to the main party area. Part of him was still wondering why he had ever thought of doing this for Bruce, but that part of him was drunk. The part that still hadn't been overcome with alcohol knew that he was a friend and it felt good to do something for a friend.

Before he entered the main hall, he took a moment to see who was there. He spotted his best friend Rhodey, surveying the scene from the front door with a disapproving scowl on his face. Tony really didn't want to be lectured yet, so he'd be sure to stay clear of him. There was also a group of people Tony really wanted to avoid, and they were apparently combing through the crazed crowd looking for him. These people were led by Justin Hammer and Christine Everhart. They were always trailing him and to put it frankly, it was extremely annoying. They had already managed to trap him earlier by the bar, and he owed Bruce, but now he was determined not to let them do it again. But then, something, well technically someone, caught his eye on the dance floor. He'd recognize her anywhere, having known her for so long, but she looked absolutely gorgeous tonight. She was dancing with some of her friends, but don't ask him who they were, he was paying more attention to her in her blue dress that revealed too much of her back. Her strawberry hair was curled perfectly around her smiling face as she partied with her friends. Tony didn't remember a time when Pepper wasn't wearing that same serious expression, but here she was laughing and having a good time.

He didn't know exactly what compelled him to beeline for her. It could simply have been that he was drunk, but that probably would've been a lie. Maybe it was something deeper that he didn't want to admit, but there he was, striding over to her.

"Hey Pep," she froze, that familiar serious look taking over once more.

"Tony?" he saw her eyes skim across the room, and added somewhat annoyed, "What did you do?"

"Who said I did anything wrong?"

"Well, it's just what I'd assume, seeing as you really only choose to talk to me if you need help fixing something you messed up," she stared at him concerned.

"Can't a guy ask a girl to dance without being criticized by her?" He didn't know exactly what he was doing. She was his friend, but she was also a top honors student, running for class president, and on the debate team. What were the chances that she would dance with him, Tony had little chance.

"What?!" she demanded. Tony tried not to cringe at her surprised tone.

"Come on," he grabbed her hand and started pulling her away from her group of friends. She glanced desperately at them for help, but both of them were surprised when her friends just smiled and walked away.

Pepper was angry as she stared after her friends, but Tony grabbed her other hand, causing her to give him her full attention.

"You look absolutely amazing," he got a closer look at her in that blue dress. He had to admit he was surprised to see her in something so revealing, but it still had a professional look that Pepper tried to keep on all her wardrobe, "Where'd you get it?"

"Well technically you bought it with the five hundred dollars you gave me for my last birthday," she muttered.

"I have surprisingly good taste," He said matter-of-factly, "Want to dance?"

"No, thank you," she tried to pull away, but he snaked an arm around her waist, pulling her towards him.

"Tony," she warned glancing around the room warily, "This looks bad. Your reputation with girls and me in this – this dress," she started rambling.

"Come on Pepper, it's just a dance," he started to sway back and forth, her body reluctantly moving with his. They were the only one's slow dancing to the fast pop music that was playing, but Tony didn't care. He was lost in the curls of her strawberry hair.

Then there was the clearing of a throat beside him. In the moment that he was distracted, Pepper quickly pulled away from him.

"I'm gonna get some air," she walked away.

"Yeah, air sounds good, I'll be right with you!" Tony cursed to himself and turned around to see Christine Everhart glaring at Pepper as she left.

He instantly turned around again, trying to ignore the blonde, but it was hard when she grabbed his arm with much more force that he ever imagined she was capable of. But hey, she was evil right? Evil people were usually full of nasty surprises.

"Excuse me?" he looked at her hand which she was digging into his arm. Fake nails and all.

"We've got a big problem, and – " Tony barely processed the first word.

"We?!" Tony miraculously slipped out of her death grip, "I've got way better things to worry about than something you think _we _are involved in."

She frowned, but he missed it because he had already left.

Tony frowned as he quickly made his escape towards the balcony. Five minutes of freedom from his ever-present followers would be a blessing.

When he reached the balcony, he saw Pepper leaning on the steel rail, gazing out at the home's large gardens. She seemed to be taking deep breaths from the rise and fall of her chest. Tony took his own deep breath and slid down the rail next to her.

Some invisible force was pulling him towards her. It wasn't like the usual attraction towards hot girls that he happened to run into. No, Tony could feel that this was much deeper, he just couldn't fully explain it.

Pepper looked up at him, but quickly glanced down at her hands, "Tony, why are you doing this?"

Tony paused thoughtfully, something he rarely did, that was the question he'd been asking himself this whole time. The best he could come up with was a shrug, "I just - you've always been there, and seeing you out there having a great time…"

She'd always been patient with his ramblings, so when he studied her face after a pause, he was glad she was listening with the usual patient calm, "I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm going through a tough time right now and it's nice to have you there for me."

"Tony, just please stop."

Tony blinked, "What'd I say?"

She rubbed her temples and sighed, this was not where Tony wanted this conversation to go.

"One minute you're sleeping with half the girls in school and being a total douche bag, and now you're asking me to dance and telling me that you appreciate me being in your life, and you ask me what _you _said?"

"Sorry, I –"Tony was cut off.

"Now you say you're _sorry_?! You never say you're _sorry, _what's going on with you?"

Tony gave up, "I'm gonna go get a drink, you want one?"

"Tony Stark, you are unbelievable."

"So is that a yes, or a no?"

She stared at him in disbelief, daring him to say something more. Tony wasn't that stupid, he knew that Pepper wouldn't go down without a fight, but neither would he. They stared challengingly at each other for what seemed like hours, before she finally gave in, "Vodka martini, extra dry, and lots of olives."

Tony replied with a nod, leaving her there on the balcony. He had made it to the bar and had already ordered the drinks when something alarming caught his eye.

He had to pinch himself in hopes that it was some cruel nightmare, but the head of red hair didn't disappear.

"Shit!" she appeared to be looking for someone, and the look of determination on her face scared him a lot. His first instinct was to hide, and that's just what he did. In less than a second, he had leaped over the bar, much to the bar tenders surprise. Tony didn't pay attention to the guy, he had bigger problems.

Cautiously he looked over the edge of the counter and followed the girl's movements. With a sigh of relief, he watched her make her way out to the pool. Tony didn't know who she was looking for, but he had a gut feeling that it was him.

There was no question that he needed to get as far away from her as possible. Who knows what she was up to, but he really didn't want to found out.

He left the bar behind, this time walking around the counter instead of over the top, and was able to quickly make it to the other end of the room.

He walked into the first closet he saw, grateful that it hadn't been already occupied, and closed the door behind him.

He tried to think of some plan to get her out of his house without having to confront her, but he was still trying to figure out why she was there in the first place. He decided that if anyone could help him find a solution, it would be his science bro.

Why did he always have to be running from someone?

* * *

Natasha found Clint flirting with some blonde chick on the mansion's second floor. She simply pulled him aside, much to his dismay. She was oddly satisfied when the blonde left, but that wasn't on the top of her priority list.

"Did you get anything?" she looked over the railing at the scene below. There was a great view of most of the activity and Natasha understood why Clint liked being in high places like this. There was still no sign of Stark which irked her even more. Was it possible for the most popular kid in school _and _host of the party to be nowhere in sight?

"You know you've ruined my chances at girls."

"No, you're the one who gave me a chance, so you brought that upon yourself a long time ago," she looked at him seriously, "I haven't seen him all night."

"I saw him every once and a while, but I also found something that you'll like more," he started down a hall to their left that Natasha figured was where most of the bedrooms were. She followed curiously.

About three doors down, Clint entered one of the rooms and gestured for her to go, "Ladies first."

She shot him a sharp look, but preceded into what appeared to be an office. It was simple, with a desk, computer, and large window overlooking the pool. It also looked like it hadn't been touched for quite a while.

"How's any of this going to contribute?" she asked doubtfully. She trusted Clint knew what he was doing, but she really wanted to get this over with and go home.

"Well, I took a self guided tour, and found some door that was locked with a touchpad. If Fury thinks he's hiding something, then I bet my bow it's in there."

"Great, so why are we in here?"

He grinned, "Look a little closer."

She didn't have time for this, but she did a more through once over of the room and she couldn't believe she'd missed it before. There was an air duct above the desk that stuck out like a sore thumb. She couldn't help but think she was losing her touch.

"Do you think it's worth a shot?" he asked.

She slipped out of her heels, "Anything's better as long as it doesn't involve facing Stark."

They quickly undid the vent's cover, "I'll meet you by the DJ in less than an hour."

"Sounds good," Clint replied, giving her a foot up.

She heard him place the cover loosely back into place, making sure not to screw it back on, and she started her trek through the maze of metal.

She really hated being in tight spaces. She wasn't claustrophobic, she just didn't enjoy trying to move, especially when she was wearing a dress that reduced mobility to a very small amount. And then, she had to try to be quiet above all that.

She didn't know how much time passed, but it seemed like hours. She slowly crept along, peering into each room she passed only to be disappointed. None of the rooms she saw really stood out as having to be locked up. They were just normal rooms you'd find in any normal day house, except they were full of expensive furniture, but that wasn't really what she was looking for.

When she was finally going to give up and try to find her way out, she peered through the grate into a large room that was much different from the others. From what she saw, it was like some sort of garage, but there were no vehicles. Instead, there were strange robotic equipment and counters that had a striking similarity to what she had seen in the Chemistry classrooms.

Was this the room that Clint was suspicious about?

There was only one way to find out.

It took only seconds for her skilled hands to carefully undo the vent cover. She then stared down at the space below. This room had a very highceiling, and there was nothing to help her in her decent. That's why she always came prepared. From her small purse, she grabbed a device she had acquired years ago. It brought back painful memories, but it was useful in situations like this. Natasha connected part of it to the vent, and to herself. She then positioned herself so she could slip out of the opening (which was hard considering the lack of space). After that she propelled down from the ceiling by pressing a button, which released a large amount of rope to propel down.

As soon as her bare feet touched the ground, she scanned the room for danger. She didn't see any cameras, and there didn't appear to be any other security devices. The lights were on, which struck her as odd, but she didn't linger on that. She spotted a cluster of computers to her right and decided that was where she would start. The machines hummed to life as she clicked the power button.

The Windows screens flashed as she waited, but there was the breaking of glass that suddenly sounded from over by the labs.

On alert, she slowly made her way over to the labs. She wanted to kick herself for not noticing there were liquids of different colors boiling on hotplates. It was obvious that there was someone else in the room with her.

She guessed a beaker had fallen on the other side of the lab, the side she couldn't see. She knew she could take anyone with her bare hands, so without a second thought, she vaulted past the counter and prepared to attack.

"Natasha?" she stopped when she heard Bruce Banners confused cry. She saw the brunette boy on the ground, a broken beaker leaking green liquid all over the floor.

"Bruce?" she was automatically suspicious about why Banner of all people would be in Tony's secret room.

"Why are you breaking into Tony's lab?" Bruce's sounded like he was getting angry, which was weird because she's never seen her math partner anything but calm.

"What are you doing sneaking around his lab?" she asked defensively.

"He invited me; you're the one who's sneaking around."

"I got lost trying to find the bathroom – "She started to think of some excuse, but Bruce cut her off.

"Stop lying to me!" he pulled himself up off the ground and faced her, "I saw you come in through the air duct; you can't say you were lost, you were breaking in!"

She took a step back when she looked into his enraged eyes. She blinked in disbelief when green flashed across them. Something was not right here.

He took a few steps towards her, fists clenched, eyes blazing.

"Bruce, calm down, I can explain, just calm –".

"GET OUT!" he yelled. Natasha staggered backwards. For the first time in her life, Natasha felt scared. There was something terribly wrong. The Bruce she thought she knew wouldn't ever act like this.

"I don't want to hurt you," she heard a hint of the Bruce she knew hidden beneath the bristling mess on top.

"Bruce, calm down."

"You can't be in here. GET OUT!" He rushed towards her. She braced herself, familiar with hand to hand combat. She knew she could take him down, but his behavior pricked her with doubt.

Then, just when he was about to strike, there was a click from the other side of the room. Both Bruce and her froze and turned to see Tony Stark frozen in the doorway. The determined look that was on his face before had completely vanished and was now replaced with disbelief and anger.

"Bruce?" he managed, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him. Natasha took the opportunity to back away from Banner. She was so screwed.

Bruce unclenched his fist and turned around, breathing heavily. His back was to them, but Natasha could tell he was trying to calm down.

Tony glared at her, but she didn't move. She matched his glare. He wasn't his usual cocky self. No. Now he was pissed off and very, very, serious.

"Get out of my house," he said sternly in an 'I will not take no for an answer' kind of way. She had two options. She could either knock them both unconscious, escape through the air vents and let them think all of it was their imagination, or she could give in and face consequences later.

She chose to stalk past him strongly, making a point that he hadn't won anything over her and felt his glare as she left the room.

* * *

Steve was surprisingly having a good time. He had doubted it was possible, but being here, at Stark's party, was actually the most fun he'd had in a long time. Before the past summer he had never given parties a second thought. He did occasionally go to school dances and functions, but only because his parents threatened him if he didn't.

Steve had been dancing, well at least trying to dance. Truthfully he didn't really think it was considered dancing when one person just waved their arms around and jumped all over the place. He had always thought dancing meant two people engaging in elegant movements. Apparently the times had changed.

Now Steve was taking a break, lounging against the window sill by the patio door. Bucky was having a good time, 'dancing' with girls. He had kept his promise and found some girl for both of them, but Steve was extremely uncomfortable and told her she could do whatever she wanted to do.

Steve also recognized some of the other kids from school. He saw the guy he had beat at dodgeball, the one with long blonde hair, dancing with his group of exchange friends. If he remembered correctly, his name was Thor. He also recognized Stark's best friend Rhodey. He was seriously keeping watch over the situation, but still seeming to have some amount of fun. Steve had really started respect the young man. He had a father in the airforce and was aiming to follow that path when he got out of highschool. Or so Steve had heard. Steve too was thinking about serving his country in some way, maybe not airforce, but he wanted to serve nonetheless.

He also noticed that the blonde haired boy, who was friends with the redhead who had punched Tony, was just sitting there by the DJ. Most people were avoiding him, and Steve felt sorry for the two. To be shunned by the entire school was punishment worse than death. That was probably the thing Steve hated most about this private school. He hated that the whole student body revolved around the richer kids and what they said. If one of them said wearing pink was cool, everyone would be dressed head to toe in pink the next day. And if you didn't follow the rest of the student body, they shunned you. Steve hated it with a passion.

So, he walked up to him. What was his name again? Steve couldn't remember what everyone else had said when they were gossiping about the incident, but Steve hadn't really cared at the time.

"Hey," Steve leaned against the wall, a couple feet between them just so it wouldn't be extremely awkward.

The blonde stared at him a couple seconds, in which Steve felt somewhat uncomfortable. He just nodded, "Hey."

"Steve Rogers, it's nice to meet you," Steve held out a hand.

He boy took his hand, "Clint Barton," then returned to gazing about the crowd.

"Looking for someone?" Steve asked. Clint didn't really seem to want to have a conversation, but Steve was determined to not let him feel left out.

"No, just waiting."

"Cool."

There was a long silence, but Steve didn't leave, and neither did Clint.

"Why are you talking to me?" Clint turned to him, "Aren't you afraid the school will put a target on your back?"

"I don't really care about that stuff, it's degrading and pointless."

Clint nodded.

"What are you doing here, if you mind me asking?" Steve pressed.

"Waiting."

"Sorry, I didn't mean right _here_, but why are you at the party?" Steve corrected himself. This boy was not an easy one to have a conversation with.

"I know what you meant," he said, a hint of warning in his voice.

Steve sighed, he had nothing better to do, so he just sat there in silence.

* * *

Thor was having a wonderful time attending his first American party. The chaotic lights, the beating of the music, the thrashing of dancing students. He had in some ways expected this, but at the same time it wasn't exactly what he had expected. By now he had danced with several girls, made out with one of them, and had a couple drinks (don't tell his brother).

Now his thoughts were fuzzy, and all he could hear was the deafening booming of the speakers. He was dancing close to the DJ, so it wasn't that much of a surprise that he couldn't even hear his own thoughts.

He stumbled slightly when someone bumped into him, though he realized that it was more than a stumble when he started to fall to the floor. He flailed his arms around in an attempt to steady himself, or break the fall, but instead of hard ground, they met someone else. The force of his fall sent them both to the ground with an _oomph!._

Thor tried to get up quickly, but his movements were slow and his head was hurting. He could hear some yelling, though it was almost completely drowned out by the music. Putting a hand to his head in an attempt to somehow depress the pain, he squeezed his eyes shut.

But, when there were suddenly hands on his shoulders, his eyes shot open. In front of him, a familiar looking blonde was helping a girl with fiery red hair, up from off the ground. The girl scowled at him, green eyes blazing.

The hands on his shoulders were tugging him upwards as well. Reluctantly, Thor's body obeyed and it took a second for him to gain his balance. The hands let go, and Thor turned to see none other than another familiar blonde watching him with a concerned stare. His lips mouthed as if he was saying something, but nothing could be heard. Something clicked in the back of Thor's mind, causing him to frown. He hadn't just been bumped into, someone had pushed him over, and Thor was certain that it was the boy who had beat him in dodgeball, who else would it be?

He lunged forward, tackling the blonde, much to his surprise. Thor was back on the ground again, towering over his opponent, fists clenched and ready to attack, "How dare you?!" He sent a fist flying towards the boy's face.

The boy blocked it with his arms, and prepared for another attack. Thor tried to throw the next punch, but someone had once again grabbed him and tried to pry him off his enemy.

Suddenly the music was killed. Around him Thor could hear the teens chants, "Fight! Fight! Fight!" Some other students began to _boo _in disapproval, most likely at the lack of music.

Thor struggled to free his arm from the grasp of whoever was trying to hold him back. Meanwhile the blonde beneath him forced him off and he staggered backwards.

"EVERYONE OUT!" there was a loud yell from above the dance floor. Everyone froze. Not a single person made a sound.

Thor staggered to his feet; aware that Steve Rogers, he finally remembered the name, had leapt to his feet as well, and was backing away from him. Clint, Thor recognized had been the one helping the redhead to her feet, and had also pulled him off of Steve.

Thor's gaze then traveled up the walls and onto the second floor balcony. There with fists clenching the banister and smoke almost literally pouring from his nose and ears, was Tony Stark.

"I SAID GET OUT! NOW!" The second time was a charm, everyone quickly began to crowd towards the doors. No one had ever seen the billionaire this angry before, and no one really wanted push him any farther.

Thor glanced back at the three behind him. Clint and the girl had completely disappeared, and Steve had moved to join the crowd in their silent progression out of the mansion.

Thor's head was still spinning and he couldn't believe what he had just done. Even worse was the fact that Loki, his own brother, was standing at the edge of the crowd. He was the only one who was planted firmly in his place and was also the only one who seemed content with the whole situation, a satisfied scowl drawn across his face.

**That'll be it for this chapter. Next time we'll see what happens when everyone gets back to school again. Tensions are going to be high, and none of them are going to like what's going to happen next. **

**Thanks for reading, and hopefully I'll be able to post the next chapter soon. Please, Please, Please, review. I really appreciate it and it gives me a lot of inspiration.**


	4. Chapter 4

**I finally got some more time to write! Yay! It's a short chapter, but hopefully it'll satisfy you all until I can upload the next one. Thanks for waiting, Enjoy!**

Chapter 4

Phil Coulson sat calmly behind the stage. It was Monday morning and the school was having their first assembly. Talking in front of the entire student body might be a daunting task to some, but to Phil, it was merely a small scratch on the surface of other things he had to deal with on a regular basis.

He wasn't the only one here. There were some other student representatives from other clubs and activities. Some of these people included Pepper Potts from the debate team, Aldrich Killian from some science club he called A.I.M., and Bucky Barnes trying to recruit baseball players.

All of the dozen or so students had slowly started to trickle onto the stage, one-by-one. Each of them fiercely battling to recruit students into their groups. Some of them provoked a better response from the students than others. Sports for example were more popular than some of the academic clubs. They tended to get roaring applause and _woo-hoos_, while the others got dinky claps.

Phil wasn't so worried about this. This year was different. Instead of trying to recruit members to SHIELD, he was here to try something different.

Phil watched as the principle returned to the podium after a great presentation by the football team. The school was still cheering wildly as he tried to get their attention, "Ah, yes, we're hoping for another great football season this year aren't we?"

The school erupted in a new chorus of applause.

The principle waited another moment as they slowly died down once more, "That almost ends our first assembly, but before we wrap this up, there is one more announcement on our agenda."

Phil stood, straightening his jacket.

"It has come to the school's attention that the transition of joining these two great schools can be hard for some of you. We want you to get to know others and to erase this rivalry that has been present between these two schools for such a long time. It's our wish that we all become one big family, and so, I'd like to welcome Phil Coulson to share what we plan on doing to help make this wish come true," the principle beckoned him forwards.

Phil walked calmly out onto the stage, taking the principle's place in front of the podium. He glanced over at the crowd in front of him. Most of them were confused, others pretended like they didn't care. One thing that stood out the most though, was the apprehension that radiated off of them all.

He cleared his throat and leaned into the mike, "Good morning, Sherwood High! My name is Phil Coulson, representative of Shield. Some of you might recognize our group from last year, others have probably seen our fliers on bulletin boards around the school. We started this group two years ago and are pleased to inform you that we will continue in this new school. But, that is not what I am here to tell you. I am here to inform you that we have been monitoring activity of all students during the last three days, and are sad to say that this transition is not going well. In order to fix this, we've come up with an idea. For the first quarter, you will be organized into small groups and will be expected to perform the bonding activities that we have come up with. At the end of the semester your group will have to make a formal presentation reflecting on what you've learned from the experience. You will receive your groups after this assembly, and the rest of this day will be devoted towards this project. More information will be provided for you when you are in your groups. Thank you."

Phil then strode off the stage while his news was starting to soak in. Besides some barely audible murmuring, there was no reaction from the student body, but Phil was fine with that because this was going to happen weather they liked it or not.

The principle then returned to the stage, "Thank you for being such a great audience, you are dismissed."

* * *

Thor didn't know what to think when he walked into his first period class. On one hand this group project the school wanted them to participate in was just what Thor needed to help him make new friends, but on the other hand, no one else in the school really seemed as thrilled as he was.

Sitting in his English class, he waited as the teacher put the class list up on the projector up front.

"Okay class, the room listed next to your name is where you will need to go to meet with your group. I'm told that groups will be a mixture of new students, past students and students who came here from the other schools, but groups will be made up of students in your grade," the teacher announced, then sat back down at her desk, "Don't leave until they ring the bell."

The screen lit up and Thor immediately scanned it for his name. He quickly found his name and his eyes traveled to the column next to it. The word "Principal" was spelled out across it and Thor thought he was reading wrong. All the other students had room numbers.

"Ooo, Thor's in trouble!" some student whispered behind him. Thor instantly froze. He couldn't be in trouble, but what other explanation was there?

Thor decided there must be some mistake. Why would they have listed _principal_? No one else had that as their room either.

He grabbed his stuff and hurried to the teachers desk. She looked up from her papers and eyed him curiously, "Is there a problem Mr. Odinson?"

"Yes, actually, it seems there is a mistake as to where I should be going. It says _principal," _he spoke calmly.

"Sorry Thor, there's no mistake, that's where you need to go at dismissal," her attention was drawn back to her papers.

Frustrated Thor was going to try to argue some more, but the bell rang and the students filed out of the classroom.

The teacher looked at him expectantly. Defeated, Thor quietly exited the classroom.

* * *

Bruce cautiously crept up to the main office. He didn't' quite know what to expect when he found out he had to go to the principle's office for whatever this group activity was. In fact the whole idea had come as a surprise to him. In his experience, schools didn't force their students to get along. They just punished the bad ones and rewarded the good ones, though the latter wasn't as common.

Other students rushed passed him buzzing happily to each other like a hive of bees as he opened the door. Inside, the main desk was presented before him, a line of about half a dozen people getting directions or making sure there wasn't a mistake. Bruce joined this line and waited patiently.

Even though it had been two days since Tony's party, he was still angry. He was angry at the other students, angry at Natasha, and even angry at Tony. But, he was, for the most part, the angriest at himself for losing control like that. He had thought this year would be different; some way to have a second chance.

The girl in front of him had turned to leave and Bruce took a step towards the desk. The silver haired lady only glanced at him before she pointed to the one place he'd dreaded. So much it being a mistake.

Bruce straightened his glasses and rapped lightly on the door. It didn't take long for the principal to swing the door open, and the first thing he saw made Bruce even angrier.

* * *

Clint leaned against a filing cabinet in the back of the room, Natasha sitting next to him in one of the only two chairs in the room, besides a stack of them near the door. He watched curiously as the principal opened the door once more to allow Bruce to enter. Of course he had known that the brunette was going to be in his group when he read the paper in first period, but he was surprised it took him so long to get here. The boy looked straight at Natasha when he entered and his expression changed drastically.

Clint remembered Friday night after the party very clearly. Natasha and he had snuck out the back door, remembering to grab Loki before they called Janet, and got home as soon as possible. Surprisingly, the usually calm red head had seemed shaken and after some persuasion, Clint had gotten her to talk. She had explained that Bruce and Stark had surprised her and she made some mistakes, but that's all he had managed, though he knew there was more to it. Bruce had to have done something truly unexpected to have surprised her and it was a whole other story to actually make her shiver afterwards.

He watched Bruce make his way to the other corner of the room, removing himself from the rest of the group. Already present were Clint and Natasha of course, but also Thor and Steve. Thor obviously trying to avoid Steve by standing by the window the principal's desk was overlooking, and Steve was twiddling his thumbs a couple feet away from where Clint and Natasha were.

The principal closed the door with a _click_! And began to pace the room, glancing at each of them from time to time. Unfortunately, Clint had seen Stark listed under _principal _as well, but whether or not he showed up was the question. Other than that, he wasn't really sure if anyone else would be joining them.

The bell rang.

"Well," the principle clapped once, breaking the silence, "If Mr. Stark doesn't show up in the next five minutes, then you'll all have Saturday detention."

"WHAT!?" they all shouted in unison.

* * *

Half an hour after the bell rang, Tony finally started to go to where he was supposed to be. It was the principal's office, right? The only reason why he was even going there at this moment was because he kept getting kicked out of any other group he tried to join, no matter how much he bribed them. Apparently the school was really serious about all of this.

He already knew that Loverboy and Red were going to be there, along with Bruce, who he didn't really want to see at the moment. With his luck recently he'd probably have all the kids he hated in his group.

But, nonetheless, he had to go. At the moment he was currently being paraded down the hall by one of the office ladies who were sent on an interesting goose chase after him. He was the one who made it interesting, but right now he had more things to worry about then good old memories.

The lady swung the principal's door open shoving him inside somewhat forcefully he might add, and exclaimed, "I got him!"

Tony shrugged her hand off his shoulder and met the angry faces of his group. Besides the three he had expected to be here, there was also Steve Rogers and Thor Odinson. Yipee…

The office lady left and closed the door behind her. The principal, who was now sitting at his desk waved a hand for him to join them.

Instead, Tony grabbed his wallet out from his back pocket and opened it, "How much do you want?"

* * *

Natasha rolled her eyes; typical Tony. She watched the principal shake his head.

"Now that we're all here," Tony opened his mouth to interject, but received a death glare from the older man, "We can get started."

The principal waited, obviously expecting them to do something, but he was a fool if he thought that would happen. The only reaction he got was the slight shifting of Steve who was still leaning against the wall.

"Would you all grab a chair and form a semicircle in front of my desk." Though he was trying to make it sound like an order, Natasha could hear the pleading hidden in his voice. Reluctantly Steve was the first to grab a chair off of the small stack next to him. Bruce and Thor then followed. It was silent as Natasha dragged her chair forwards, Clint pulling up a chair next to her and Tony joining in after yet another glare from the man.

Not one of the six students seemed comfortable being in such close proximity and there was the unmistakable feeling that everyone wanted to rip everyone else's heads off. Natasha had a feeling that if that happened she'd be the one to come out on top.

Nonetheless, the principal seemed immune to this and handed Bruce, who was closest to the desk a pile of papers that was then passed around the group, "As Phil Coulson explained at the assembly, the school is being split up into groups for some bonding. You are all in a group, but does anyone have the slightest idea why you're all here in my office?"

The room was silent as they studied their handout – well, everyone but Tony – and he continued, "You're all here because SHIELD organized these groups and you six just so happen to be the center of most problems this year."

There was a moment of silence when it seemed they were all contemplating this. But of course it was broken only two seconds in.

"Well that's a load of crap," Tony declared, throwing his packet on the ground and leaning back in his seat, "They're obviously the problem," He pointed to Natasha and Clint. Natasha kept a straight face and in reality, she didn't really care anymore. She was tired and would like nothing more than for the day to end.

Clint on the other hand growled under his breath, "If he wasn't such a douchebag we wouldn't be having any problems."

"I would like to know why I'm here, I haven't done anything wrong," Thor suddenly declared.

"I think you know why you're here," Steve retorted, and Natasha remembered the brawl between the two at the end of Tony's party, "You attacked both Natasha and me!"

"Don't bring me into this." She gave the blonde a sharp glare.

"I didn't attack her! I was pushed by you!" Thor pointed an angry finger.

Tony, who couldn't be left out of any argument decided to add his other two cents as well, "You all trashed my house, and, "he locked eyes with Natasha, "Broke in for no freaking reason!"

"You can't break into a house that's hosting a party everyone's invited to," Clint stated matter-of-factly.

"You all have Saturday detention!" The principal's voice ripped through the arguments, silencing them immediately.

"What?" Tony almost screamed.

"I think _extra _bonding wouldn't do you any harm," the man sneered, obviously enjoying this to some extent, "Now, if we're all done chatting, I'm going to tell you what you probably want to know…"

* * *

Steve listened as the principal began his explanation.

"SHIELD has gathered information on you all from other students this year, "he gave each of them an overpowering look, "and past years."

"Isn't that illegal?" Tony asked, with narrowed eyes.

"If you keep interrupting me then I'll make Saturday detention a regular for all of you."

Everyone glared at Tony. Steve prayed that he could keep his mouth shut for once. He was already going to have to explain all this to his parents and didn't want to add the explanation as to why he had Saturday detention. _Two of them…_

Tony shrugged, but didn't say a word.

"Now, for this first day you will be included in bonding activities which will be explained in the packet in front of you. If you don't complete these activities, you will be given a detention and if you really want to I can add a write up to the list as well," He folded his hands in front of him, "Besides activities today, you will be required to have one after school meeting every week that must be documented in some way and it must be different from something you did before. Example: you can't have a 'study group' or 'movie night' more than once. Variety is what we're looking for."

There were moans from within the group, but no one uttered a word.

"Now, I will leave you to follow this packet and start bonding," he stood up and started for the door.

Steve couldn't believe it, the highest authority on campus was leaving the six students deemed trouble makers in one room with no supervision! The door closed with a _thunk_, and all eyes were instantly boring into each others from across the semicircle. Steve could only hope that he'd get out alive.

**Thank you so much for reading, and please please please review! I love to hear what you think! Next time things are going to get interesting...**


End file.
